1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to a method and apparatus for providing musical training.
2. Description of the Related Art
In ancient human tribes, it is believed that music was a group activity that everyone participated in. However, with the introduction of professional musicians and music as a professional field in general in recent centuries, our societies have been split into those who are deemed to have a talent for music and those who believe (or are told) that they don't have any musical talent. However, many people can develop a musical talent when trained by a teacher.
As a prior patent points out: “In music instruction, a student's aural perceptions are typically developed through collaboration with a music teacher who points out, by verbal comment and audible example, the pitch, timbral, and timing errors of the student. Teaching musical skills are complicated by the fact that sound, unlike paintings, cannot directly be seen and only exist when played. Audio tape recorders allow students to review their performances, but do not provide any analysis.”
Over the years, there have been attempts to help singers and other musicians with their pitch perception. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,789 (the source of the quote in the previous paragraph) describes a tool to help singers with a line that shows their pitch and other vocal characteristics, while bars on a screen indicate the notes within a prerecorded or live musical sequence.
There also exist computer/console-based karaoke games, such as Rock Band (Harmonix Music Systems Inc.), Band Hero (by Activision Publishing Inc.), SingStar (by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) that provide immediate pitch feedback on a singer's voice. The main shortcoming of such games is they are not designed for vocal training. These games assume fixed length songs that are in no way customized to the user's vocal skills (e.g. vocal range) and a design suitable for delivering voice lessons.
There also exist pitch-correction tools, such Melodyne by Celemony Software GmbH, that are designed for correcting pitch errors within prerecorded audio clips of singers and instruments. These tools show the pitches detected in the audio using pitch bars and pitch lines. Melodyne also provides a crude display of note heads on a non-conventional staff that is subject to ambiguous interpretation of note timing, and is suited to audio-mixing applications rather than voice/musical training.
There also exists various vocal training books (with audio CDs) and vocal training software with built-in voice lessons, but without pitch bars. These tools may be valuable for singers who are already confident that they are singing the correct notes, but not for those who are unsure if they are singing the correct notes or not (whether they are beginners or advanced singers). One of these tools, Voice Tutor by IMPACK Productions, provides pitch feedback using a needle (similar to the fuel gauge needle found in automobiles). Its needle design shows immediate pitch, which performs poorly when vocal vibrato is present, and can only show local pitch errors relative to a predetermined target note.
Some existing vocal training software (such as Singer's Friend by Robert Lumpkins) allows very limited customization of voice lessons to a user's vocal range. These software applications rely on limiting the range of the voice lessons to an exact range manually set by the user, without any regard for what the lesson is intended for, and assume the user already knows their own vocal range.